After delay, Stinger crane exodus continues

After a three-day stoppage last week, the final cranes from the former Stinger building got the green light to proceed with transport to Arizona.

“We still have a crane-and-a-half to get out of there,” said Ralph Seeley, the retired senior project manager who lives in Libby. “We thought we complied with Judge Manley’s order. This is just a delay tactic.”

Last week, Port Authority Attorney Allan Payne filed an order for law-enforcement assistance to temporarily halt the removal of the last two of seven cranes until the letter of the bond agreement was fulfilled, he said.

Fisher Industries, which purchased Stinger Welding, Inc., assets in bankruptcy court, was granted removal of the cranes last month when it agreed to post $1.4 million bond payable to the Port Authority if a judge later decides the Port Authority is the legal owner of the overhead  cranes.

Payne wanted the bond to apply to a broader aspect.

“We just wanted the bond to apply to the trespassing case,” Payne said. “They are saying he cranes are necessary to finish a $28 million contract. We say, because of this, the cranes are worth more than $1.4 million.”

Brigid Burke, the executive director of Kootenai River Development Council, which manages the Port property, said the order was filed Tuesday, Jan. 7, and fulfilled Friday.

“The paperwork was filed last Tuesday and came back Friday,” Burke said. “It was late in the day.”

Fisher Industries workers on Monday were securing the steel cranes to a stretch-deck flatbed trailer inside the Stinger building. There were no overhead structures spanning the massive ceiling of the building.

“They’re all down,” Seeley said of the cranes. “All that remains for transport is a crane-and-a half.”

Seeley chastised Payne for just delaying the inevitable.

“All this accomplished was delaying the removal,” Seeley said. “These cranes are needed to finish jobs (at Arizona.)”

The former Stinger building contained six overhead cranes and another smaller crane on wheels for moving smaller spans.

Stinger, with its main office in Coolidge, Ariz., is the parent company of the nearly three-year operation that was closed with the completion of its contractual work in September.